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Texas town plagued with ‘little red worms’ in the tap water

The residents of the Woodland Acres Subdivision in Old River-Winfree, a town of about 1,400 just 25 miles east of Houston, are drinking store-bought bottled water this week.

The water samples they took to the town offices were from kitchen, bathtub, shower and outside faucets, and the samples were all full of worms. The mayor of the little town has done the only thing possible, under the circumstances: he’s handing out bottled water and has opened the shower facilities in the town offices to the public.

Residents have only one concern, though. They want to know where the worms have come from, and when they will be gone. “There’s these red ones, there’s these black ones, almost look like tadpoles,” one resident told a KHOU reporter.

Another neighbor, Tammy Early, was just about to lose it. “That’s worms! That is so worms!,” she said. “That’s just gross. Oh my God, I’m freaking out right now.” But her neighbor, Tara Miles had a bigger story to tell. “This water was coming out of the bathroom faucet,” said Miles, showing the reporter a bottle with the damning evidence floating around inside.

The town’s private water utility, J&S Water, said they did have a power outage a few days before the worms showed up, and a chlorinator went on the fritz. The water flow was cut out for about 16 hours while repairs were made. The water company says the system has been flushed, and has asked people to boil their water.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the agency that oversees water companies, is supposed to be soon to begin testing the water. The water company has said the water has been tested several times, and the problem must be in people’s pipes.

The mayor and town officials were supposed to meet with officials from J&S Water on Wednesday afternoon, but no one from the water company bothered to show up for the meeting. Right now, residents will continue to drink bottled water until the state gives them the all clear.

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